Sunday, December 30, 2018

I've been neglecting myself and it has to stop.Welcome back to Sunday Selections.Begun way back in the mists of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

Just a few pictures to finish the year, before I take a break.

I like to buy truly free range eggs as often as I can and was delighted to find these with only 14 "chookens" per hectare.

To be classified as Free Range, chicken farmers must have no more than 10-15000 hens per hectare. If you ask me, that's far too many chooks in a small space. The big supermarkets buy "free range" eggs from farmers who have the allowable limit. Those eggs are often pale yellow and have no taste.

this is what it says on the box: "We are a small family business using an EXTRAORDINARY & sustainable egg production system. Our 'Cruising Chookens' live in MOBILE homes because we are using them to REGENERATE our land., spreading their valuable nutrients all over the farm, under the watchful protection of their guardian dog K9. They are 100% FREE to roam, scratch and dig whilst also fertilising the soil! Mobile chookens =clean pasture and environment for the animals. A SUSTAINABLE CYCLE, the chookens feed the plants, and the plants feed the chookens. We LOVE our chookens and we ADORE our EARTH EGGS, we hope you do too.

Sal, Bill and Bridget Hood."

This is PERMACULTURE! a system I've long been a fan of. I haven't yet tasted these eggs, the test comes tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Lola hiding sleeping behind the curtains. Right now she is back to hiding under the bed where it is dark, I suspect she has another bad headache caused by her hayfever and will be going to the vet again as soon as I can make the appointment. This will be the third time this season, I hate to see her suffering. I have occasional migraines myself and know how bad that feels.

a forgotten decoration which has been in place for several years now, it gets dusted every time I dust the books and shelves

a blizzard in a snowglobe. What could it be hiding?

a cute little polar bear wearing a scarf

a second snowglobe has Santa

with his own less dense blizzard

of course now that Christmas is over, Santa is enjoying a well deserved tropical holiday, in a hammock slung between two palm trees. If you enlarge the photo, you may see he is wearing a swimsuit and holding a tropical drink.

being Santa, he is able to use his magic to whip up a mini blizzard whenever the tropics get a bit too warm.

I'll be back (famous last words) with Sunday Selections, I just don't know when. Taking, processing and sorting the photos to be used takes me quite a bit of time and there are other things I need to be doing.

Friday, December 28, 2018

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

After going back to bed for a couple of hours, Eleanor and Harry stood in the back yard sipping hot chocolate and wondering what to do with the weedy shrub that still lay discarded by the fence. "It hasn't rained in a while," said Harry. "The shrub is probably quite dry. We could have a bonfire." Eleanor said it was a good idea, adding "your mum could do one of her cleansing rituals over that whole empty space too, like when she walked around inside with a bunch of smouldering sage before we moved in." "I remember that," said Harry. "Banishing negativity she said. It seems to have worked, the house has a lovely feel to it.""Let's suggest it to them later." said Eleanor. "It's time to get to the police station and tell them about my dream. That Merry Moose has to have some meaning to someone somewhere." "And we can find out if there's any news on who that skeleton was and how the murder happened.""Why would be nice to know too," said Eleanor. They drove along the main highway, noticing a small causeway they hadn't seen before, a small faded sign pointing towards the sea read "Scenic Retreat". "Sounds nice," said Harry. "Might be a place to explore once we get truly settled in."Senior Sergeant Nathan Turner took notes as Eleanor told him about the dream and said he would make inquiries about any shipwrecks, or indeed anything at all about the name 'The Merry Moose'. He'd get to work on his computer and send all the currently known details of the case to the city headquarters. "They have huge files of known criminals and stuff like that," he said. "I'll send you through to young Jack now, I believe he has a few things to tell you about what we've found."

The young evidence technician welcomed them to his large office which had reasonably comfortable chairs by his desk, along with several tables, brightly lit and covered with the small evidence bags he had taken from the scene. "I'm happy to tell you there is quite a bit of evidence in those soil samples," Jack said. "We even found strands of hair that may have been the victim's. If we can get DNA from those and match it to any part of the skeleton we'll know for sure the hair is his. These bags will all be going to headquarters in the city, they have a forensics lab there, run by Clarrie Kirby, he's a wizard with his computer and little bits of things he uses to drag DNA from things such as this."

"Clarence Kirby?'" said Harry. "About fifty with curly ginger hair?" 'Yes," said Jack. "Do you know him?" "I went to school with his brother, Richard," said Harry. Young Clarence got called Clock by his peers because of his initials. He never seemed to mind, always had his nose buried in science books. Won more than a few ribbons at science fairs, I recall Richard telling me."

"Small world," said Eleanor. Jack began packing up his bagged evidence in a sturdy cardboard box, while Eleanor related the dream she had just told Senior Sergeant Nathan about. "That's interesting," said Jack. "I'll be sure to get a copy of that once he's typed it up and I'll include it with all this when it goes to the city. They can pass the word around and see if anything comes to light about 'The Merry Moose'. It does sound an odd name for a

ship. It's possible your mind fixated on the name and added it to the ship in your dream.""Yes," said Eleanor. "The mind does find unusual ways to unload things. I once dreamed about a small clown playing a concertina and after all these years I still don't know what that meant." Harry looked at her in surprise. "You've never told me about that dream," he said. "Oh it was long ago," said Eleanor. "I was about twelve when I had that particular dream."Jack moved a pair of tagged candlesticks that had been sitting on the small table just beside the door and placed the box of evidence bags in their place. "I'll leave this unsealed for now," he said. "I'll wait to get a copy of your dream from Nathan, then he can check the contents here and sign off the paperwork stating the contents and dates. There's a thing we call "chain of evidence" where everyone who comes in contact with this box has to sign and date the paper.""I've seen that on the crime shows I like to watch on television," said Harry. It's a safeguard against evidence tampering." "Right," said Jack. "Now, is there anything else you can tell me? How long you have been living in the house? When you first came to this area? Why suddenly decide to rip out that shrub?""That wasn't a hard decision," said Harry. We've only lived in the house about a month and have been making decisions about the yard since then. My dad, Laurence, said he and Mum are downsizing to a smaller place and we could put his old gazebo in our yard, with that back corner being the perfect spot. So we had a gardener rip out the shrubby weedy thing and he found the skeleton.""We haven't lived in this area before," said Eleanor. "Harry's parents have been here for several years and every time we came to visit, we'd say how lovely it was and we wouldn't mind finding a house here. Maxine actually found the house for us. She became friendly with a realtor when she visited a hairdresser in a small local town.""It might be something we should look into ourselves," said Jack. "The nearest small town we know of is a place called Shark Cove, through the hills a bit and closer to the cliffs and a small beach area.""I think that's the place," said Harry. "Mum said the hairdresser shop was called Curly Cuts. Does that sound right?" "We'll find out," said Jack. "I can see Nathan about sending someone over there later today."

Thursday, December 27, 2018

the one that says "mild on your hands while you do the dishes". With Madge the manicurist.

this is it in case anyone has forgotten.Now hear my version: I've been using Palmolive for over 30 years, not because of the advertisement, just because it does a good job on the dishes and stays sudsy. Believing all that time that the dermatitis, cracked and painful skin, and weak breaking fingernails were my own fault heritage. Just like my mother's dry skin.Recently, less than a month ago, I noticed Palmolive was a bit more expensive than usual and a rival dishwashing liquid was on special for only $3.50 for 900ml. Palmolive is down to 750ml a bottle. In the less-than-a-month that I've been using Morning Fresh (lemon"flavour") dishwashing liquid, the dermatitis has almost completely cleared up, there is no cracked, painful skin at the corners of my nails and the nails themselves are beginning to grow. I'm never buying Palmolive again.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.Begun way back in the mists of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

continuing from yesterday, more of the city's Christmas decorations:

in the City Cross arcade, which dissects the block both ways forming a +, these lights are my favourites, there are three of them hanging from the upper level and if I had $$ and space, I'd have one in my front entrance

here we are on the upper level looking across two of the lights/baubles fixtures

another tree within the David Jones building, also with a train around the base

and now we are in the historic Adelaide Arcade, my favourite Christmas area. These are two vintage style stuffed Santas, not in his usual red suit, the white one appears to be a nightshirt. They are up high and the heads appear to be missing, but they are there, just tilted back.

the swag hanging above the Santas is beautiful enough, but how about that ceiling! I love it. Maybe not everybody does, but that's okay.

a little further along the Adelaide Arcade, which runs from Rundle Mall through to Grenfell Street is this upper level, you can probably see the balcony surrounding it, and the raised ceiling with skylights. I think this is the best Arcade in South Australia. The white globe lights are there all year round, not just for Christmas.

In a display case we have Mickey Mouse,

The Queen of Hearts,

the Cheshire Cat,

Minnie Mouse,

and these three men, sitting in front of what appears to be a bathtub.

"Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Three-Men-In-a -Tub?"

I'm guessing these are ornaments for sale in one of the stores and I know someone who would love to have them under the tree on Christmas morning. They are all Disney characters.

another vintage style stuffed Santa

a set of "nesting Santas", a little blurry, sorry about that

a fabulous ceramic tree, this and the nesting Santas are part of the display in the Wig Shop windows

another nesting Santa, I believe these are the Mamushka style?

and one more with another pretty little tree

I forgot to get a close-up of this Santa in a glass case, the case is filled with a type of gel-liquid with glittery bubbles or similar floating in it.

here is a red one with an Elf, these may be musical boxes, I'm not sure

I love this black one surrounded by pretty pastel cakes, all ceramic or perhaps bisque?

here's a close-up of the Santa, he's wearing an apron, this box is quite large about 10-12 inches high.

another large one, not in a glass case this time, Santa handing a gift to a young boy

Who wouldn't love to buy these and fill their home with Christmas each December?

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.Begun way back in the mists of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.

In Victoria Square, this is the city tree, which looks a bit dull, but much better when the lights are on at night. I no longer go out after dark, so I don't have a photo of the lights.

the base of the tree has a train running around it, I took a closer shot but it came out too blurry because of course the train is moving.

there are giant candy canes

painted elves singing

and dancing with Santa

in between the painted panels is this elf who doesn't look at all happy about being squished in there

the tree has giant red bows

and shiny baubles, the criss-crossed webbing holds the tiny lights and everything else into place

the star at the top of the tree

across the side road, the petunia bed has gifts and a snowman

here's a closer look at that jolly fellow, lucky for us, he isn't real snow, he'd melt in no time at all in our summer .

a bit further down the road, the Town Hall has Christmas "trees" made from pots of petunias

moving on to the busy Rundle Mall area:

at the entrances to the mall and repeated along its length are these tree displays. To my eyes and the eyes of several people I've spoken too, these are quite uninspiring, until they are lit at night. To most of us, the entire mall seems to be lacking in Christmas glitz.

thank heavens for Christmas lights

Santa is everywhere

in various poses

but this vintage Santa in the Adelaide Arcade, reading his naughty and nice list, will always be my favourite.

the David Jones department store always has very nice Christmas decorations. This is our 'up-market' store and has really wonderful Christmas ornaments that I didn't go to see this year, because I always want to buy all of them and where would I put them?

soldiers are everywhere, this one is in the historic Adelaide Arcade and let me tell you, if you want to see gorgeous things at Christmas, this is the place to go. Forget the main Rundle Mall but remember this is only my opinion.

this white coated soldier is about ten feet tall

and this trio is much smaller, the big one being about my height, but equally nice to look at.

I'm not sure if these Heralders are new, I don't recall seeing them before. These two are on the Rundle Mall side of this building which goes through the block to the Grenfell Street side where there are two more Heralders.

one lonely reindeer

within the Mall, the Peter Alexander store (mostly sleepwear) has a lovely window display with the models wearing Mickey Mouse Christmas clothing

and Elf slippers! I love these and will find out how much they are next time I go to the city because I'd love to have a pair.